Advocacy & Community Engagement
In addition to providing services to families that walk through our doors each day, we are dedicated to bringing positive change to systemic issues affecting children and families to help families today and for future generations. Together, our Board, staff and clients are taking action on issues that affect the well-being of families to help build healthy families, safe children, and strong communities. We do this by:
• Promoting civic engagement and encouraging families to get involved in issues that are important to them, through volunteering, voting, contacting their elected officials, and attending public meetings.
• Advocating at the local, state and federal level for legislation and policies that impact physical, economic and social development of children and families.
• Providing professional trainings to help partner organizations better serve children and families who have experienced adverse childhood experiences and help them heal from the trauma.
• Building community education and awareness about the impact of abuse and neglect in our community in terms of the devastating impact on individuals, as well as economic impact to the larger community systems (-education, workforce development, criminal justice, and healthcare).
In addition to the community engagement work we do within our organization, we collaborate with numerous local nonprofits and government agencies to make our collective voices heard to elected officials, in an attempt to influence policies that will impact the families we serve.
• As the lead agency of Child Abuse Prevention Council of Napa County (CAPC) we provide professional development trainings for partner organizations, oversee education campaigns to engage the larger community in prevention efforts and advocate for public policy that impacts children’s safety and healthy development.
Current projects include:
Mandated Reporter Trainings (MRTs), to help professionals who work with children and families identify signs of abuse/neglect, and understand their responsibility to report suspected cases and how to do so.
Adverse Childhood Experiences Trainings, to build awareness of the lifelong impact of childhood trauma.
Child Abuse Prevention Month Awareness Campaign (April)
Policy Advocacy Trainings
• Cope is a member and the fiscal lead for the Community Leaders Coalition (CLC), a group of nonpartisan community leaders that strives to be well-informed and actively engaged in collective solutions that address community concerns, fears or needs resulting from local, state and federal policy change. We envision a vibrant community that is inclusive and equitable – where trust, safety, health, well-being, education, and empowerment is fostered and is a shared responsibility for all members.
Current projects include:
Voter’s Choice Napa, A coalition of civil rights groups, advocates for effective government, and community based organizations committed to advancing effective implementation of the California Voter's Choice Act and broad, diverse voter participation. Ultimately, we want voting to be convenient, modern and inclusive and to see voter participation rates increase. As a member of the VCN, Cope is conducting a voter registration drive, doing outreach and education and get out the vote activities for the upcoming elections.
Census 2020: Cope and all CLC members are advocating for an accurate count in the 2020 census so that California receives appropriate federal funding and Congressional representation. We are working to ensure a Napa County Complete Count committee is formed to determine the impact on our community, as well as determine effective outreach and education strategies for the community, particularly our most under served populations.
Resilient Napa, a project of Cope Family Center, offered with support from Napa County Mental Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Queen of the Valley/St Joseph Healthcare Fund, is an open community initiative to prevent, address, and heal adverse childhood experiences and build resilience throughout Napa County. The members focus on key action areas such as community education about the impact of adverse childhood experiences on health & wellness, policy advocacy and professional development trainings.
Current projects include:
RAISE: a year-long training program (Resilience, Aces Integration, Support and Education) to educate paraprofessionals on the lifelong impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their role in adult behaviors, child abuse, and working professionally with those impacted.
Screenings and ACE Surveys: Resilient Napa coordinates film screenings targeting awareness of ACEs impact and future health predictors for affected populations. These events include audience ACE Score questionnaires and question and answer sessions with professional counselors on hand in the event of trauma-triggered responses. Current screenings include:
Resilience – The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope
Paper Tigers – One High School’s Unlikely Success Story
Web portal development: (Currently under development)Develop the Resilient Napa website to share and disseminate latest information, research and practices regarding developments in brain science, resilience and trauma informed practices with RN partners, target population and general population.
To learn more about our Advocacy Community Engagement programs contact us at 707.252.1123 or hello@copefamilycenter.org.